


Amid The Winter's Snow

by Fitzrove



Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: Christmas Presents, Cold Weather, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Romance, making plans for domestic christmas fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21919639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fitzrove/pseuds/Fitzrove
Summary: It's quite nearly Christmas, a choral concert is coming up, the streets are covered with snow right from the morning, and Morse literally bumps into Peter while on his way to work.They end up being a little late to pick up Thursday, but it's very much worth it.
Relationships: Peter Jakes/Endeavour Morse
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	Amid The Winter's Snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maih_em](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maih_em/gifts).



Winter usually arrived to Oxford like a thief in the night. One day, it was a very ordinary November, rainy and chilly as ever, and the next thing you knew, there was snow on the streets and a thin frost outside every window, something that could barely be seen but was _there_ when you looked for it.

Snowfall definitely had its perks when it finally came around, making the streets a little lighter during the long cold nights, but it also had a tendency to get everywhere. This year wasn’t the worst by far - Morse had, after all, been forced to wade through actual heaps of it one winter while chasing after a killer that was annoyingly skilled at cross-country running. He still felt more than a little inconvenienced when he peeked out of his window in the morning and realised that the snow was, once more, falling in big wet globs instead of something thin and picturesque. The kind of weather where you almost couldn’t look straight ahead without risking a faceful of wet snow.

At least it wasn’t windy, he thought as he made his way to the station, minding the somewhat slippery pavement underneath the newest coating of snow that had all but covered the footprints of previous passers-by. Snow by itself wasn’t too bad, and neither was wind, but combined, they were guaranteed to make Morse shiver constantly even after he’d managed to get indoors again. And that was all too entertaining for certain people at the -

Someone tall and dark and very much smelling of ash bumped into him, making his balance falter, but haphazardly caught him just as he was about to fall. Morse held back his tongue, not quite willing to bark out something rash without assessing the situation first, and didn’t regret it. As he looked up, he found himself staring at a sharp face, framed with the most notable pair of eyebrows he’d seen in a while.

“Peter”, Morse said, trying to make it sound like a simple statement, even though it did end up being a little accusatory. Peter nodded, steadying Morse on his feet before wiping some snow off the shoulders of his jacket and then taking a careful step back. Good that he hadn’t been holding a cigarette - that would’ve made for a nasty crash.

“Morse”, Peter said, all business, as if they hadn’t spent much of last week running their salaries to the ground by arguing over the phone at least every other day over who’d hang up first. “Wotcha. Or watch out, rather. You really should mind where you’re going.”

“Did you have something intelligent to say?” Morse asked. Peter simply tilted his head, looking at Morse and seemingly trying to make some sort of evaluation. Morse raised an eyebrow.

“I’m off to pick up the governor”, Peter said. “But I was wondering… what are you doing tonight?”

“Singing”, Morse replied, not particularly fond of having to turn Peter down, but also not fond of the thought of missing a concert where, thankfully, both overly festive and overly Christian songs were the minority this year. “At Beaumont College.”

“I see”, Peter said, eyes drifting to Morse’s lips for a moment, which was terribly distracting and frustrating when Morse was trying to get his wits together and remind Peter that they both had, in fact, work to do. “What about Christmas? You got any plans yet?”

“Not really”, Morse said, taking his hands out of his pockets to rub them together. He really shouldn’t have skipped the gloves today, not with the snow, because even if Peter hadn’t stopped him like this, he probably would’ve ended up standing around outside at some point or another. He really should’ve planned ahead, but when did he ever.

“Come to mine on the night before. If you will. I can’t cook anything overly special, but it’ll be something”, Peter said, stepping closer and gently taking Morse’s hands into his own. Morse glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were alone - thanks to the snow, visibility was pretty poor, so they probably had half a minute before anyone would notice. He leaned in to plant a quick peck on Peter’s lips, just to steal a bit more of the warmth from him. That’s what he got for having had the opportunity to sit around in a heated office for a while already.

“Why not. I’d like that a lot”, Morse said, when Peter pulled back and blinked a couple of times, stunned. “But you’re going to be late with the car if you don’t hurry along now.”

“Come with me”, Peter said. “Mrs Thursday’s probably dying to ask you over to Christmas dinner. And I’d rather not see you refuse.”

Morse resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead just shoving a still-cold hand behind Peter’s neck as if to mess up his hair. Peter tried to dodge it, but upon realising he couldn’t win, turned it into a very over-familiar lean against Morse and a clumsy drag of his lips across Morse’s cheek.

“Only if I get to drive”, Morse said, as he raised his hands in defeat and gave Peter some space again. “You can have the turn when we come back.”

“Petty bastard”, Peter said. “Alright, then, but we better get going now.”

Once they’d actually slipped into the car, Peter gave Morse a proper kiss, arms around his shoulders, sharp features made tender as he got close to breathe the same air. He then offered his gloves, which Morse refused twice before finally accepting them.

“Mind you, I’m not letting you keep them like I did that jumper”, Peter said, as Morse finally started up the car. They’d probably be around five minutes late by now, which wasn’t a very polite thing to do, but with the holidays so close, Thursday would probably let it slide. Especially if his wife got the chance to fuss over someone.

“But you should hang up a stocking, Morse. You never know, even if I can assure you I’m not going to come down the chimney for you”, Peter added. Morse let out a snort.

“That’s because you _are_ a chimney”, Morse said, very dryly, keeping his eyes on the road. “Tall, dark, constantly smoking.”

Peter chuckled, and it made Morse smile, clumsy as that jab had been.

“I do like sherry, you know”, Peter said. “Occasionally. If you feel like bringing something to leave out for Mr Claus.”

“I’ll keep that in mind”, Morse said. It’d be easy enough to find, and he could even wrap a ribbon around it. Sappy, yes, but the thought made him happy.

Predictably enough, Mrs Thursday did insist on inviting both of them over on Christmas Day, on the grounds that she wouldn’t stand for either of them going without any proper pudding, and it wasn’t like they could say no to that. Almost as predictably, Peter showed up at the Beaumont College chapel a little before seven o’clock sharp that night, and Morse tried not to stare at him while they went through the programme.

Rather unpredictably, Peter walked up to him after the concert with a poinsettia. In the end, it was rather hard to tell which was redder: Morse’s face or the flower.

**Author's Note:**

> An extraordinarily Endeavour Christmas from your Secret Santa, wherehefoundtheporcupine!!! I was so excited to write this for you and hope that you like it <3 It was easiest to put up here on AO3 because I want it to be rereadable in the future and Tumblr is kind of scary with how posts seem to vanish sometimes, lol.
> 
> Merry Christmas to the rest of this amazing fandom as well, and thank you for being so kind and supportive and posting some Quality Content for us all to enjoy!! I love you all, and even though I've been on a semi-hiatus fic-wise for a couple of months, I've been reading everything you guys post and loving it terribly. Hopefully the new year will make life less hectic and will bring time and inspiration (soft like summer rain #2 anyone??).


End file.
